Mitchell finishes third at Class AA girls golf tournament

Jun. 2—WATERTOWN — Maintaining its position from the opening day of competition, the Mitchell High School girls golf team earned a third-place finish at the Class AA state tournament on Tuesday at Cattail Crossing Golf Course.

>Mitchell followed up a first-round 308 on Monday with a second-round 326 on Tuesday, totaling 634 strokes for the 36-hole tournament. Aberdeen Central repeated as state champions with a 603 (295-308), and O'Gorman slotted into the runner-up position at 626 (304-322).

>The Kernels landed five of their six golfers comfortably inside the top-25 all-state positions. Maddie Childs was Mitchell's top individual in ninth place, shooting 156 (75-81), with Londyn Hajek's 158 (78-80) right behind in a tie for 10th. Mia Larson (78-85) and Brynlee Sabers (77-86) each shot 163 to end in a four-way tie for 13th place, and Anna Eliason shot 164 (84-80) to come in 17th place. Elliot Smith was also on the course for Mitchell, shooting 200 (100-100).

>"Five girls in the top 17 at state is just phenomenal, and we still took third place," said MHS head coach Brian Eliason. "In general, we played pretty well, and I'm happy with the way we played. It's just that two other teams beat us, and Aberdeen played ridiculously good golf."

>It was the final career high school event for seniors Childs and Sabers, who were the top two golfers for MHS on Monday.

>"(Monday) was awesome for those two, for sure, and we're going to miss both of them next year," Brian Eliason said.

>Larson and Hajek joined Childs and Sabers as the four scoring golfers on the MHS team scorecard on Monday, and on Tuesday, it was Anna Eliason, Hajek, Childs and Larson.

>"Anyone in the top five of our team has shown they're capable of being the low round, and that's certainly what happened in this tournament," Brian Eliason said. He attributed higher scores across the board — each of the top five teams added an average of 15 strokes to their Day 1 totals on Day 2 — to more difficult pin placements in combination with warmer, windier conditions.

>Mitchell briefly pulled within three strokes of overtaking O'Gorman on the back nine holes of Tuesday's round, but the Knights finished strong to hold off the Kernels. It snapped a streak of five-straight seasons in which MHS was either first or second in the Class AA state team standings.

>Olivia Braun, of Aberdeen Central, started the second round two strokes off the lead, but matching even-par rounds of 72 strokes, a total of 144, was good for the individual medalist honor. O'Gorman's Ari Jacobs, the leader after the first round with a 2-under 70, shot a 3-over 75 in the second round to come in second place at 145 strokes.

>The Golden Eagles and Knights swept the top five positions, with Aberdeen Central's Emma Dohrer (147) in third place and a fourth-place tie between Aberdeen Central's Kyley Wirebaugh and O'Gorman's Erin Hurd at 149 strokes.